Too many taxis in WorcesterWORCESTER has too many Hackney carriage taxis, council chiefs have admitted for the first time.
Councillors now say the city’s taxi ranks at The Cross and St Swithin’s Street are too small to cope with the number of vehicles seeking to park up.
Worcester has 213 licensed Hackney carriage drivers, who can park at the ranks, but just 54 private cabs circling around the city.
Private cabbies are not allowed to use the ranks for waiting and instead must rely on phone calls from the public for pre-booked trips.
Hackney carriages have complained about a lack of waiting spaces for several years – as recently as September they were spotted on double yellow lines in Trinity Street.
Both Hackney carriage owners and private cab drivers pay yearly licence fees to the council, which is currently £263 for first-timers and £126 for renewals.
Council officers have now been asked to go away and explore ideas for “making it more attractive” for hackney carriage workers to convert to black cabs.
It could mean an increased license fee for the hackney carriages, or more stringent rules around how old a vehicle has to be.
Councillor Paul Denham, speaking during a meeting of the licensing committee, said: “We’ve been concerned for a number of years about the number of taxis using the rank.
“I’ve been thinking for a while about how we can persuade more of them to become black cab drivers, and not hackney carriage drivers.
“I want our officers to explore whether there is any scope to make it more attractive to use a black cab, because if we can come up with ways of doing that it would ease pressure on the ranks.
“At the moment, once you’ve gone through all the processes and paid your fee, there is no incentive not to become a hackney carriage driver.”
The committee voted in favour of the move, and has asked officers to come back with ideas for the next meeting in February.
But the call has already led to scepticism from drivers, who have cast doubts over any proposals working.
Tariq Mahmood, chairman of Worcester Taxi Drivers Association, said: “They should stop giving new licences – this is a small city and there’s been a problem for hackney carriage drivers in finding waiting spaces for a long time.”
Private hire cabbie Dormston Cook said: “The hackney carriage drivers have it better than us – they get to sit in the ranks and pick people up, whereas we’re waiting on phone calls all the time.
“This just isn’t going to work.”
source:
http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/
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